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M.T.A. Opens Front of MetroCard to Advertising

There is no official soft drink of the Brooklyn Bridge. The surface of Lady Liberty’s crown is not brought to you by a cellphone provider. And even the New York Yankees, corporate behemoths of America’s favorite pastime, have refused to sully at least one piece of real estate at their new ballpark — the name at the top of it.

But on Wednesday, New Yorkers learned that one of New York City’s emblems is not immune from the siren song of advertising dollars.

“Millions of New Yorkers carry MetroCards with them everywhere they go and use them multiple times a day,” said Joseph J. Lhota, the authority’s chairman. “For those with a message and a desire to reach millions of people in a novel, attention-getting way, there is no better way to advertise.”

“The whole thing is available, except for the black stripe,” an agency spokesman, Aaron Donovan, said. (The message beneath the stripe, instructing riders the direction in which they should swipe, will also remain.)

Mr. Donovan said it was quite likely that many classic yellow cards would remain in circulation even after any advertising buys. But New Yorkers will not be able to choose. “Whatever card is next up in the stack is the next one you get,” he said.

The bid to raise revenue at the financially strained agency comes months before hearings are expected on a possible fare increase. It is unclear when ad-covered MetroCards may start appearing.

The authority has sold space on the backs of cards intermittently since 1995, beginning with a campaign promoting an Anita Baker album. The most recent campaign came in February, when Domino’s Pizza advertised its $7.99 pies. The card was distributed only in Brooklyn.

The front of the MetroCard, though, has remained virtually untouched since 1997, with the introduction of what was then called the MetroCard Gold.

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Credit
Photo Illustration by The New York Times

Advertisers can place advertisements on the backs of 50,000 cards for $25,500 and on 2.5 million cards for $450,000, Mr. Donovan said. Rates for the front have not yet been determined but will be higher than those charged for the back.

Riders greeted the news as a mixed blessing.

Amy Schulz, 31, from Hell’s Kitchen, said brandishing a standard yellow MetroCard was a rite of passage when she moved to the city eight years ago from Texas.

On an uptown C train on Wednesday afternoon, one rider complained that “the commercialization of humanity is destroying everything in the world” and suggested “it would be nice to have public transportation separate from brainwashing.”

He declined to give his name, he said, pulling his hat low, because “all great philosophers are anonymous.”

Still, many noted that the cards themselves were not very old and that similar laments of a bygone era were commonplace at the time of the subway token’s demise. Any extra revenue, these travelers said, was a good thing.

“I think most people would rather have an advertisement than an increase in fares,” said Julissa Rivas, 17, a high school student from Washington Heights.

“If it bothers you,” Jim Mooney, 50, from Rego Park, Queens, said of a prospective ad, “don’t look at it.”

Gene Russianoff, the staff attorney for the Straphangers Campaign, a rider advocacy group, said he appreciated the transportation authority’s quest for alternative revenue but was “skeptical that charging premium rates for the front of MetroCards will yield a lot.”

Sacrificing its most visible branding space could also prove costly for the authority. Micah Wallace, 24, a designer from Crown Heights, Brooklyn, said visitors’ immediate connection between the card and the agency could dissipate without a constant reminder.

“People scrapbook this when they go on vacation,” he said of the current card, removing one from his pocket. “Will it become a Coca-Cola card?”

A version of this article appears in print on July 19, 2012, on Page A22 of the New York edition with the headline: For Transit Agency Needing Cash, This Ride on the No. 7 Line Is Sponsored By ... Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe